Maharaja of Jaipur Bhawani Singh passes away

Maharaja of Jaipur Brigadier (Retd) Bhawani Singh.Nicknamed "Bubbles" after barrels of champagne were emptied to celebrate his birth on October 22, 1931, the last titular Maharaja of Jaipur and head of the Kachwaha clan of Rajputs, Brigadier (Retd) Bhawani Singh, passed away in a Gurgaon hospital late on Saturday. He was 80.

Bhawani Singh, who had been in the hospital for about a month undergoing cardiac treatment, is survived by wife Padmini Devi, daughter Divya, son-in-law Narendra Singh and three grandchildren, one of whom he adopted for want of an heir.

The Rajasthan government has announced a two-day state mourning. The former Maharaja will be cremated with full state and military honours on Monday and all state government offices and institutions in Jaipur district will remain closed. The funeral will take place at Jaipur's 'Gaitore Ki Chhatriyan', the family's traditional cremation ground, family sources said.

Bhawani Singh was born to Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II and his first wife Marudhar Kanwar of Jodhpur.

His father later also married Princess Gayatri Devi of Cooch Behar, who thus became the third Maharani of Jaipur.

He succeeded his father as king after his death in 1970, and held the position till royalty was abolished in 1971.

Bhawani Singh, who married Princess Padmini Devi in 1966, received the nation's second- highest gallantry award, the Maha Vir Chakra, for his contribution in the 1971 India- Pakistan war.

He went to Sheshbagh School in Kashmir and followed it up at the prestigious Doon School in Dehradun and later the Harrow School in the UK. Following his return to India in 1951, he was commissioned into the Indian Army as a second lieutenant in the 3rd Cavalry Regiment. In 1954, he was selected for the President's BodyGuards unit, where he served for nearly eight years.

In June 1967, he took over as the second-incommand of 10 Para Commando, becoming its CO the following year.

During the 1971 war, his battalion was decorated with 10 gallantry medals.

In 1974, Singh voluntarily retired from the army to look after his property as he solely inherited his father's property through the law of primogeniture.

During the four years (starting July 1993) that he was the Indian High Commissioner to Brunei, he suffered a heart stroke and paralytic attack, from which he could never fully recover.